We Work in Shades of Gray
by LifeofaWarLord
Summary: An ex-officer of the Survey Corps, who now enjoys a post in the Military Police, is given an ultimatum: get the courts to agree to execute Eren Jaeger, or transfer and kill him herself. Despite her best efforts, she ends up in the last place she wanted to be. Hijinks ensue (Erwin x OC or Levi x OC, I haven't decided. We can put it to a vote if you want. M for future shenanigans)
1. Chapter 1

AN: Hello everyone! Long time no see. So, I decided to revisit the Attack on Titan series. I wasn't too happy with the first one, and I just got bored. But, I find the best way to get back into writing for my other stories is to start up a new one. Also, I'm torn between Erwin and Levi (I briefly wanted to do Jean, but I love him too much to share with anyone [including my OC]) Anybody have a preference?

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She heard the screaming underneath her, but she couldn't do anything from up here.

"Somebody go get her! Her gear's burned out! Captain!"

"Captain!"

She stared down at her squad, trembling in fear and rage. She'd used up all of her fuel saving her squad, and forgot about looking out for her own safety. Bitterly, she remembered that happened often nowadays.

Maybe this is what she'd wanted all along.

She felt tears welling up, but she'd refused to let them fall. She'd seen too many tears from comrades before. She glanced down at her smoking 3D gear, anger and humiliation sinking in. She didn't want her squad members to see her like this. Of all the things she knew she should be feeling as she sat in the grasp of a Titan, she could only feel that intense humiliation.

The rest would come by the time she went into the mouth though, and long before she fell down into the stomach. She'd seen it before. Her chest became tight as she tried to breathe deeply, the first waves of fear ebbing into her system.

"Shit," she sighed, shaking violently as she felt the Titan turn her to face him. She'd still had her blades in her hands, but froze when she suddenly met with big blue eyes. They were clear as the afternoon sky, reflecting like pools of glass. She stared, wide-eyed at her reflection. Her dark hair was no longer in its neat bun, but blown wild and ragged. The color had drained out of her brown skin, her freckles now looking like a thousand little tiny wounds on her face.

She looked into the face of the Titan. Her heart was thumping in her ears now, and she could feel her stomach dropping. Her ragged breathing became faster, more labored as she took in all the Titan's features. He seemed to sense her confusion, rage, and terror. The dark-haired titan looked back at her, in a close-lipped smile. His glassy eyes held a malicious kind of joy, as he watched her mind work and to try to make sense of what she was looking at.

The Titan's smile curled upward, revealing a thousand shiny little fangs.

The young woman sat frozen, staring as the teeth opened, and a gurgling noise came out of the gaping mouth.

"Robyn..."

Her eyes widened, and a scream lodged itself in her throat. She heard the Titan clearing its throat, still smiling down at her. She closed her eyes tightly, waves of nausea racking her.

"Hey! Robyn!"

She opened her eyes and lurched forward, looking around her. She sat in a board room, with a few other officers around her. At the head was a dark-haired man with a scraggly mustache and goatee who looked none too pleased with her.

_What the- was I asleep?_

"Did you rest well, McGowan? I didn't want to disturb you, but your snoring was kind of drowning me out. Luckily, you haven't missed any important information yet." There were snickers at that. She looked back at him, grey eyes dazed, as she tried to kick her mind back into reality and out of dream land. As she scanned the room, a blush came over her. She relaxed into her seat, smoothing back her short hair.

"My apologies, Chief. Sleep was a little hard to come by last night with everything going on." Wide awake now, she nodded and turned her smile into an apologetic and toothy grin. As she looked at the other officers, it was obvious she wasn't the only one who'd been having a difficult time staying awake. Everyone looked like they'd been put out on the wrong end of the wall. Niles took inventory of his haggard men, nodding his head. When it was obvious he'd let her minor transgression slide, she dropped her smile. She couldn't shake the feeling her nightmare left her with. The last time she'd had that nightmare was shortly before Shiganshina's destruction. She took this as a bad omen, and it put her on edge a bit. But she would decipher it after today was done.

"Understandable. After court, we'll all be able to catch some shut eye. Now, like I was saying. Jaeger is being held in the building's lower level now awaiting trial."

"Which reminds me - what exactly are we trying to do here, chief? This is a shit storm none of us were ready for, what happens now?" A man asked. There was a resounding wave of agreement.

Last night had been a complete mess. The Military Police received word that the Colossal Titan had reappeared and launched an attack on Trost district of Wall Maria. Instead of going to help the Stationary guard and the 104th trainees, the Military Police chose to stand down, and began focusing on preemptive refugee relief. This wasn't too big of an issue for Robyn, considering she hadn't seen a Titan up close in about seven years and it was her personal wish to never see one again.

Still, it was difficult to rouse refugee efforts last-minute. Especially since she was already in the business of human transport, getting people homes and jobs in the innermost walls. Titan scares would no doubt call attention to homes owned under false names, and had been empty, now held multiple families who seemed to appear out of thin air. They wouldn't do anything to her for smuggling people to safer districts. But they would definitely send them back to wherever they came from.

Then, to make matters worse, by sundown there was word of a boy who had actually transformed into a Titan in front of hundreds of people.

Looking at her scribbles, she turned the page back over to look at her notes from last night. The Titan Boy, Eren Jaeger, had not harmed any humans. Instead, he'd killed multiple Titans, and plugged the hole in Wall Maria and saved Trost District.

Despite all that, the Stationary Guard handed him over to the Military Police under direct orders of Central Branch in the wee hours of the morning as ordered. Robyn and her squad, along with the Commander were personally responsible for Jaeger's transport. Niles commanded that weapons be on him the entire time he was in the main annals of the building. He was highly dangerous, after all. Nobody saw much of a point in that though, since the kid was totally unconscious when he was given to them.

Needless to say, everyone was slightly underwhelmed upon first seeing the Titan boy.

Still, the whole thing was pretty curious. A Titan shifter was unprecedented. There was a ton of pressure from the other branches, all the districts, Central, and the monarchy to do something. The hard part was that nobody knew what should be done. She'd fallen asleep during the first half of the meeting, and they only now began discussing Jaeger. The fact people were having side conversations and actually falling asleep during a meeting with the Commander was in itself a strange thing. Niles was a lenient man, but no-nonsense when it came to his work. This morning, he seemed too lax about everything.

All in all, there was definitely some strange things taking place.

"The Military Police would like to have Jaeger executed immediately and then studied." he said curtly, watching as the others' expressions turned from confusion to surprise. Granted, this was an entirely different situation than any of them dealt with.

"I'm sorry Chief,"another officer started,"but why kill the kid? According to the reports from witnesses, he didn't hurt anybody. Not even when Trost initially fell. He followed orders and killed Titans exclusively. It seems like he'd be more useful alive, considering if he hadn't been there at all, there would only be Wall Sina for all of humanity to live in."

There were murmurs at the table, some agreeing, some disagreeing, other unsure. Another Captain, Lott spoke up.

"Yeah, but do we really want to risk having a Titan inside the wall? Keep in mind we've only seen him in his human form so far. Everybody's at a loss on what we should do. I think because nobody in Sina has seen the kid transform themselves, it isn't real to us." he stated, and Robyn looked at the sleazy little man. He was notorious for beating up new officers who refused to go along with some of his seedier activities. He was also the reason the Military Police had so many new female officers in such a short span of time. The Military Police was only open to the top 10, but he was willing to let any young woman slide by the requirement...for a price of course.

He had a valid point, but Robyn disliked him greatly, so she wrote it off as stupid.

"The orders come from Central, our personal hang-ups and reservations are irrelevant," Niles chided."They feel like even though he may prove useful in battle, it's an even bigger issue to keep him. I will elaborate my case further in court."

The edge in Nile's voice was clear, and she wondered if it was just the stress of being forced to be the mouth piece for Central, or if he was just as pooped as everyone else. Robyn respected the man, but she would never want his job.

_Hell, with the Jaeger kid, even **my** job feels like too much now._

"As you know, if it was a unanimous decision to have Jaeger executed, we wouldn't even need a courtroom decision. The Survey Corps have entered a bid. instead of executing him, they wish to keep him alive for experimentation and for use outside of the wall." There were a bevy of groans at that.

"Idiots, can't they just kill themselves without bringing the rest of us down with them?" Somebody mumbled beside her. Whoever the officer was talking to gave him a quick smack and a shush. He kept on talking though.

"She knows better than anybody else what I'm talkin about! If she didn't, why is she here now?"

Robyn didn't move to acknowledge that. But they knew she'd heard them.

"In the event that the court rules in their favor, Central has set up a contingency plan." During the entirety of the meeting, Niles made sure to speak to everyone in the room. He met everyone's eyes. This time, he only looked at her. The others, following their commander, looked at her as well.

"Captain McGowan,you've been chosen to accompany the Survey Corps in all future endeavors in the event they're awarded custody of the Titan shifter."

She looked around the room, then at Niles. The corner of her mouth twitched as the prickling sensations of adrenaline spread like cold water_. _Her ring finger twitched, and she began twisting the gold band that rested on it.

Robyn shook her head and gave a dry, forced laugh. The forced laughter turned into more sincere, albeit pained chuckles. Niles remained expressionless for the most part, but his eyes gave his guilt away. She knew it wasn't his fault, but it was a shock anyway. It hurt a little that the decision had to be relayed by him.

Adrenaline rushed through her veins, made everything so much brighter and louder. She'd known years ago when she was initially granted a transfer, the unspoken stipulation was that there would be a chance she'd end up right back where she started. It was no secret that the Military ridiculed and disliked the Survey Corps, even going so far as to sabotage their efforts on occasion. Sending somebody to spy on them or stall their efforts to actually be useful was not a surprising or new idea.

But she'd gotten comfortable here. And she'd never anticipated that they'd send her back during what was arguably one of the worst times for any branch other than the Military Police.

She suddenly resented the kid that lay chained up in the basement, and prayed to the Gods of the Wall that he'd be struck down dead. Right there in the cellar.

Sighing, she looked dead on at her commander, giving him a half-hearted nod.

"I understand, sir."

"We just want you to watch the kid if things go bad. IF they go bad, McGowan. " he said, sighing again.

_Of course they do_, Robyn thought, nodding again. She looked away from the others, deciding to spend the rest of the meeting drawing on her hands. Niles cleared his throat and straightened himself up. There was a short, awkward silence as the other captains picked their gaze up from the table to look at his direction.

"Court proceedings begin at nine o'clock this morning. McGowan, you will stay with me and finish preparing our case. Have someone inform your second in command to take on your responsibilities today. Everyone else, back to your posts. That is all."

Robyn's lips pressed into a very hard, thin line as everyone around her rose up to leave.

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AN II:Okay, so when I was thinking about this OC, I imagine Brianne Tarth in terms of her hair. Idk, I love that woman. Anyway enjoy!


	2. Chapter 2

She remained in her seat, frozen as a deep pit began to form in her stomach. Niles walked past her stiffly, but closed the door when the others left the room. Handing her a handkerchief, he sat on the table in front of her. She took it, wiping the ink from her palm. She flipped her hand over, continuing to wipe at the ink. She made sure to get it out of the ridges of her sole piece of jewelry, her gold ring. She stared down at the band fixedly.

_I knew this might have happened sooner or later, no need to throw a fit about it. Calm down. Breathe..._

"I'm sorry Robyn, honestly. If I had it my way, I'd send a piece of shit like Lott out to do the job."

Robyn wiped at her shaking hand, giving another curt nod as acceptance to his apology. Niles had only the best intentions. Not only for his men, but for humanity. He was a good soldier, and a wonderful friend.

Still, he was far from rebellious. He took his orders and followed them, blindly on occasion. Friendship aside, they were close enough for her to understand that her companionship was ultimately expendable to him. If he could find a way to get the job done without sacrificing her, he would. If he could not, he would not hesitate of it meant humanity would move even an eighth of a step forward.

And she knew she would do the same if the roles reversed. It was always so much easier to do when it was someone else on the chopping block.

Understanding that is what made their friendship so successful. There were no unreal expectations or confusion about what one expected from the other. There was only the truth. Doing the "greater good" in their line of work meant working almost exclusively in that gray area between right and wrong that civilians lived by. The gray areas only darkened as you advanced in ranks.

She initially tried to avoid falling into the trap of working within the "gray" area. Life experience made her realize that was where she flourished. She learned to embrace it, out of fear of the alternative. Idealism was for foot soldiers and civilians.

Foot soldiers and civilians both were best used as bait.

"Ya know, I always had a feeling I'd end up back out there sooner or later. It was a matter of time."

"Well, this is a hell of a time to get called on to babysit."

She snorted as she tried to gain some control over her trembling body. Niles sat down beside her, giving her a small folder labeled 'Mikasa Ackerman'. She opened it, seeing the documents of an old murder case.

_"_You know they have more than babysitting in mind, sir."

There was a deep sigh, again. He spread the files over the table before sitting all the way back in the chair.

"So either way it goes they're banking on the kid dying?"

She gave a quick nod, letting the silence hang heavy in the room.

"Officially, I transfer to 'observe' the kid."

"Unofficially?"

"Kill him as soon as I can. It'll take time, but as soon as I have an opening I'm expected to take it. I'm sure they'll be more than patient as long as he's dead though. Not to mention the disapproval ratings of the Survey Corps will skyrocket. It's a win-win as far as Central sees things," she said nonchalantly, shrugging as she fell back into her seat. She looked at Niles, who was massaging his temples fervently.

"Why is it they wanna undermine those people? They're our best men. And I'm definitely not fighting any Titans anytime soon," He growled, still rubbing away at his temples.

"You already know the answer to that, don't let your relationship with the Commander blind you. The Military Police is a lot of things, upstanding is not exactly one of them. We are here to protect the interests of the people who live in Wall Sina. Everyone else is secondary. And giving shine to the Survey Corps only allows people outside of Sina to see this branch for what it really is. It's not necessarily right, but it _is_ for the great good of the human race."

"Tch. How do you figure?"

"All that complaining about taxes feeding soldiers who aren't able to do their jobs? Horseshit, we pay taxes too. The obvious truth is that the poor resent the people of Wall Sina. They resent being stuck in those buffer cities to be used as fodder. They resent the merchant guilds, the Garrison, and the Military Police. With that in mind-"

"Central redirects that resentment in the direction of the Survey Corps by constantly working against them."

"Exactly. It keeps Humanity from collapsing from within from civil wars, and the Survey Corp uses it as fuel to keep going. It placates the masses, and puts pressure on our best to continue getting better."

"Is that why you transferred here?" Robyn turned to look at him, chuckling.

"What? Because of the system? Or -"

"Because you let your relationships blind you? You talk about this stuff like you didn't figure it out until you left. You were there a year after he died before you transferred. Did he blind you?" He said, showing his own ring. Robyn sat, a little shocked he'd asked. They very rarely ever talked about their respective love lives. She'd met his wife, Maria, four times in the seven years she was in the Military Police. She had taken him to her husband's memorial only once. She looked down at her hand, her freshly buffed wedding band dainty and thin on her slender finger.

"Quite the contrary. Everything that happened opened my eyes more than I bargained for. I just realized I was far less selfless than I gave myself credit for. This is a fight that needs warriors. We're too selfish for that - or too smart, depending on how you want to view it. So, we move the chess pieces around, and we'll continue doing so till there aren't any pieces left. Even if there's nothing left, it will be a victory as long as some of our opponents pieces are taken. If we play it just right, we may be able to take all of their pieces with us. I wanna be one of the pieces left on the board when this is over. So when the chance came, they moved me here to work under you," She turned with a tired smile to her quiet friend.

"And I have the feeling that if they sent you there, they'd leave you there to deal with the aftermath of having killed the boy."

"Of course. How would it look to just transfer me back as soon as he died? It would also be way too risky to kill me themselves. So, they'll just leave me to rot there. The others would lose trust in me, but they wouldn't kill me. There would be no one to watch my back, I'd receive the most dangerous work. I'd be forced to pretty much do the deed myself. All loose ends tied neatly, with the trimmings," She snorted, twisting and turning her wedding band.

"Well, we have our directive. Which is, how you're explaining it, to make sure he's executed and make sure it's not done on our dime."

"And undermine the Survey Corps," she added, still staring off into space.

"Well, we can lose the kid. But unless they specifically tell me you have to go as well," Niles hand flew in her face with a new pen,"we should find a way to complete the directive where I still come out with my second-in-command, you never have to set foot outside of Wall Sina, and the Survey Corps feel enough of a blow where Central gets off our backs." Robyn took the pen from Niles, then examined all the scribbled notes and reports in front of her.

When she turned to speak to her commander, he gave her a stiff wave, signaling her to get to work. With a small smile, she began shifting through the papers.


End file.
